Contemporary fantasy meets true crime when schools of ancient sorcery go up against the art of the long con in this dark coming-of-age novel from the author of The November Criminals.

Mike Wood is a regular teenager at a Manhattan Catholic school.

One day, his classmate Hob Callahan persuades him to read a mysterious old book of unknown authorship: The Calendar of Slights. On the face of things, the book is a guide to performing clever card tricks; but in fact, it is a test to recruit new members into a secret cell of radical magicians.

Ordinarily Mike is more brawn than brains but, astoundingly, he passes Hob's test with flying colours. The Calendar of Slights not only unlocks Mike's potential magical powers - but also introduces him to New York City's vast and hidden underground network of warlocks, sorcerers and mages.

Here, with Hob as his unlikely guide, Mike's role as a steadfast soldier begins. For there is a war being waged. A war that has spanned the ages. A clandestine war against the magical establishment: a war against The Assholes.

Melior Audere: it's better to dare.

I would give a thumbs up merely for the title alone: Fortunately, there's more to the book than the fabulous title